A Werehog's Mate: The sequel
by SonadowStories
Summary: Sequel to 'A Werehog's Mate'. In the first story Sonic and Shadow had triplets and eventually found eachother again. They did not know, however, that Sonic's curse would continue to run through the family. Now it's 21st century. One of their descendants, with the same name, must now learn how to cope with this inherited 'condition'. Only this time, Sonic isn't the cursed one.
1. Chapter 1

**A werehog's mate 2: chapter 1**

**Shadow's POV**

I woke up early in the morning before the sun was even up. Not that it was supposed to be up now even though it was around 6 am already. It was in the middle of winter. So the sun wasn't supposed to be up and lighting our day already. I curled up underneath my blanket and tried to let the comfortable warmth, that was more then welcome in the cold of the winter, to make me fall back to sleep again.

I sighed when i heard my mom call for me when i was about to continue my slumber. I hoped to sleep the rest of winter away, but unfortunatly i wasn't going to be able to try and do so since i had to get up early for my chores.

"I'm up!" I yelled and threw the blanket off of my body. I shivered as i was met with a wave of cold air that floated around in the house because we never turned on the heater at night. Mom and dad feared that if they heated the house at night that we would suffer from carbon dioxide poisoning while we slept. I rubbed my arms and searched my closet for any warm clothes i could wear for today. I grabbed a blouse with a high collar, to keep my neck warm, a pants and some other necessary clothing articles.

Later on i walked out of the bathroom when i was fully dressed and made my way downstairs. I made my way into the kitchen and saw my mom setting up the table.

"good morning, honey." She said with a smile as she put three plates on the table.

"morning, mom." I said and stretched my arms and back.

"you better go outside and help you father. the sooner you do that, the sooner you two can eat breakfast." She said and i didn't waste any time to take my jacket, my boots, my scarf and my gloves and walked out through the back door.

I shivered as a colder wave then before hit my body. I searched for my dad's whereabouts while trying to ignore the harsh wind hitting my face. Making my face feel numb after being outside for just a few moments. I pulled my scarf over my muzzle and came upon the stables.

"dad?" I called as i looked around the stables. We had a few stables. One was for our cows, another one for our sheep and pigs and the last one for the few horses we had. The horses being for horse riding lessons for extra money for our house and food for out cattle.

The animals in this stable, the one with the pigs and sheep, looked spooked. I wondered by what.

"dad?" I said again, but i recieved no answer. He must be at the other stables. I turned to make my way out of this stable and to one of the other two when something caught my attention from the corners of my eyes. I turned to what seemed a hole torn through the wood of the old stable wall. I gasped as i recognized this hole as i had seen this countless of times before. I turned and counted the amount of animals in this barn. The pigs were still the same amount as yesterday. The sheep, however.

I crawled through the large hole and looked at the thick layer of snow that covered the ground. My suspicions were confirmed as i saw the huge canine tracks in the snow that were accompanied by blood spots. I followed the trail as i hoped to find that the sheep had survived after somehow escaping the monster canine's cawls and teeth. As i followed the trail i saw my father up ahead. He was having some trouble with some news reporters who followed strange happenings like this for the past months ever since it came out on the news for the first time.

"dad?" I called and he turned towards me.

"Shadow? what're you doing here? go back to your mother." He said as if i was still a small child even though i had turned 16 a few months ago.

"what happened?" I asked and stood by him, but my question was answered when i saw the bloodied form of the sheep, or what i guessed was our sheep, in the snow. My stomach twisted and i felt like throwing up when i saw the torn up body. I turned away before my dinner from the evening before spilt from my mouth. It wouldn't be a good sight to be aired on tv by those news reporters. I felt my dad rub my back and asking me if i was okay. I nodded and looked at the corpse from the corner of my eyes. Whatever had been roaming around here had taken another innocent life during the night. In the same manner it had done to all the others before this one.


	2. Chapter 2

**A werehog's mate 2: chapter 2**

**Shadow's POV**

Both me and my dad breathed a sigh in relief as the news reporters finally left the scene so we could take care of this mess.

"dad? just to be clear. you didn't do this did you?" I asked without looking at him. I felt like i had insulted him everytime i asked him, but i just had to know. My father could be unpredictable at night.

"Shadow, i would not attack our own cattle. you know your mother makes sure of that." He said, but didn't look at me as he answered my question. Dad wasn't going to hurt mom in anyway. That's how she was able to keep him from hurting me or the cattle. I didn't know how that was possible, though. When he's like that during the night. I couldn't possibly comprehend how she could stop him like that. She surprises me everytime he is like that.

"we should clean this up, shouldn't we?" I asked as i felt uncomfortable to clean up this smelly corpse. It was scary to look at. The damage done to the sheep's body was maimed so badly that it was hard to recognize this as a sheep. Large chunks of flesh had been torn clean of and most of her bones were crushed underneath the weight of the strenght this monster used to kill it's prey. I really hoped that the sheep's life had ended quickly. I didn't want to imagine the pain she must've gone through.

"yes, but i'll be the one cleaning it up. you're not coming in contact with this." My dad said as he didn't want me to come in contact with raw meat like the left overs on this corpse. He had a good reason for it, but what he didn't know is that i only had gotten a little bit of the bad part of him. those were some minor physical parts, but it wasn't that i had a thrist for blood or raw meat.

"i don't hunger for raw meat or anything like that." I said.

"i know and i'm glad for that, but i still don't want to take any risks." My dad said and after that i turned and walked back to the farm to take care of my chores and rid my mind of that image.

A few hours later i was taking a bus to the nearest town. It wasn't far away, but to get to it you needed to pass by alot of other farms that were located in this area. I watched the snow covered view pass by as i looked through the window. Thankfully, the bus was alot warmer then it was outside. I hated it when it was winter. The snow was fun to play in, but it was to cold and i would rather stay inside. But on days like this i had no other choice then to go out.

The bus came to a stop at the train station and i exited the large vehicle. I looked around and walked to the nearest grocery store. I made sure not to slip on any icy spots on the ground. At some spots i almost lost my footing, but i was able to hold myself onto something to keep me from colliding with the ground and hurting myself.

I arrived at the building and did the grocery shopping pretty slowly as i wanted to savour the heat that the inside of the store gave me. It allowed my body to warm up a little and get some feeling back in my face that had gotten numb because of the harsh wind that blew around this place.

Eventually i had to pay for the groceries and soon enough i was standing outside again. I pulled my scarf over my muzzle again when the cold winter wind hit me in the face again. I walked to the closest bus stop while trying to avoid the icy spots again. The road i had to walk went down as this town stood for it's biggest part on a hill. It wasn't a big hill, but when the road went down it would enlarge the chance that you would slip and fall the rest of the way down if you were to walk on such a slippery spot.

I looked around again, but i didn't see alot of poeple around. It wasn't that i was interested in them. I was only interested in just one person. They weren't friendly to me anyways. So i didn't see any reason to be friendly to them. Our family wasn't appreciated in this town. I have heard through my mom and dad that his parents had told them that it was because of something that had happened centuries ago and that had something to do with our blood line. That made me angry. I know what kind of unusual bloodline i have, but it was time that this town would be needing to get over their stupid grudge for us. I bet they don't even know what had happened anymore. By now everything are just stories and legends about something that poeple won't even believe in nowadays.

I saw the bus stop up ahead and saw the person i was waiting for standing there as he was waiting for me to stand at the ussual bus stop.

"Sonic." I whispered with a smile as i felt my mood lighten up and pretty much ran towards the hedgehog standing there at the yellow pole.


	3. Chapter 3

**A werehog's mate 2: chapter 3**

**Sonic's POV**

I turned towards the voice that called my name and saw Shadow coming. I was surprised to see him. He only came into this town when he had to get something for the farm or his parents. Other then that he only came here when he had to go to school. Which wasn't now since we had two weeks off for christmas. I came here to this bus stop because i had a feeling Shadow would be coming again. So i was surprised to see that Shadow had actually come here.

"Shadow. hey." I said when Shadow stood next to me.

"how're you feeling? you had a cold last time we saw eachother didn't you?" He asked.

"it's better now. although i do still cough once in a while." I answered.

"that's good to hear. are you coming along with me like last time?" Shadow asked with a hopefull smile.

"well, sure." I said. I couldn't deny it. I was one of the few who he could be himself with. The others in town didn't really seem to like him all that much. I have never gotten why. Shadow is a really nice guy if you get to know him. I once heard Shadow mention it was because of a legend from centuries ago that had something to do with his family. I didn't know if that legend was true or not. Or if these poeple even remembered the legend correctly.

We waited for the next bus as we talked to eachother. Shadow didn't say much, but atleast we had a conversation. I still had to cough once in a while and Shadow kept telling me to go back home, but i refused aslong as i didn't feel ill.

I watched as Shadow looked behind him. He had been doing that for quite a while now. He would look behind him every few minutes. I turned to look in the same direction. I could see what was bothering him. There were some of the guys and girls from school gossiping and looking at us. Well, more like looking at Shadow.

"don't mind them. you know how they are." I said and we both looked at eachother.

"they don't know a thing about me. they just hate me because of the family i come from." Shadow said and looked in front of him again.

"so are the legends true?" I asked all of a sudden after a while of silence.

"n-no, they aren't!" Shadow snapped at me as he was taken back that i asked such sudden question. I smirked slightly as his reaction told more then words. This was interesting. I never thought that it would be true. Especially since my family tree began where his did. I knew it did because my parents, my grandparents, my great grandparents, etc. each reminded their kids where their family tree started as we had to keep close bonds with Shadow's family.

We did, after all, share the same secret. A secret that was carried over almost every generation by genes.

The genes weren't as strong in my family as it was in Shadow's. It was obviouse as in Shadow's family it seemed as if there was atleast one child in every generation that had the most strongest genes. In my family, however, it wasn't as nearly as strong. We all carried the genes, but only a few had gotten the actual 'curse'. I didn't know for sure if Shadow knew if we were closer related then he thought. But i hoped he did.

I looked at the road as i heard the bus finally pulling up in front of us. We walked inside and searched a seat. The bus soon left and we were on our way to Shadow's family's farm. Shadow and i chitchatted some more as we also enjoyed the view from outside.

I turned my gaze to Shadow as there were some physical abnormalities that came from the genes and that weren't only at night with him.

I noticed that he seemed to have more sharp looking and dangerous teeth as he talked. When we were kids i also noticed that in dark areas, when we would play hide and seek or something, that Shadow's eyes would reflect light like it would with an animal. During the day, his eyes would seem sharper and more alert than others.

There were also some other small things. Like his claws. Nearly very mobian has them adorning the tips of their fingers and toes, but Shadow's just looked like they would hurt a tad bit worse.

Those differences were all small and, if you didn't know the full story, meaningless. I think that's why our families were so close. We helped eachother through this as that was something that had been promised ever since the first 'cursed' one in our family had gotten a mate and had gotten married. From there on it had kinda become a family tradition.

The bus stopped at the bus stop in front of Shadow's farm and we both exited the vehicle.

"we're finally here." Shadow said with a sigh of relief. He hated being in town and he would want to avoid it if he had no reason to be there.

We walked up on his father's property and i immediatly noticed the smell that came from not to far away. The 'cursed genes', as everyone in our family had simultaneously decided to call them, weren't as strong as they were in me, but they had definitely given me heightened senses. Something that could be pretty neat! Unless you had to deal with a horrific stench such as this.

We looked at the source of the smell and noticed that it came from Shadow's father's truck with a deceased animal on the back of it. James does this everytime there has been an 'accident' on his farm. He would bury the remains somewhere in the woods in a place where every other farmer had gotten the bright idea to choose that as their cattle's last resting place.

I noticed that Shadow held his nose closed as he couldn't stand the stench of it. I was worried if it was just because he didn't like the smell, or if he actually really liked it. You could never tell with him. That was a bit unnerving and to some even scary.

"let's go inside." Shadow said and quickly walked past the truck and into his house as i followed him.

"mom, i'm home." He said when he walked into the kitchen.

"did you get everything?" His mother, Jasmine, asked as her son put to bags of groceries on the counter. He nodded and started putting groceries away as i greeted his mother.

"ah Sonic honey, how are you?" Jasmine asked and helped her son to put everything away. I didn't see his father. I guessed that James must be busy on the crops or with the cattle or something.

"are you staying for dinner?" Jasmine asked.

"sure, my parents are on vacation this week so i'm home alone now anyway." I said.

"oh you are? well how about you stay for a few days then?" Jasmine asked and got a shocked look from Shadow. She didn't notice that though. She instead immediatly set up the table after sending Shadow out to get his father.


	4. Chapter 4

**A werehog's mate 2: chapter 4**

**Shadow's POV**

I sighed in agitation as i searched for my dad after mom had decided to let Sonic stay for a few days. It wasn't that i disliked him, but i just didn't want him to stay for the night. Especially not at night.

I trudged through the thick layer of snow and made my way into the stables of the sheep and pigs. I stepped through the wooden gates and saw that my suspisions were correct. As i thought i had found my father closing the hole that some killing beast had made late at night.

"still busy closing the hole?" I asked as i approached him. My dad turned to look at me.

"Shadow, yes i still am." He said and turned back to his work on the wooden wall.

"Sonic is staying for dinner tonight." I said.

"Sonic's here?" He asked as he replaced another broken wooden board with a newer one.

"yeah, mom is allowing him to stay for a few nights since his parents are on vacation for this week." I said and expected my dad to dissagree with mom's decision.

"i see, it's nice to have visitors." He simply said and somewhat agreed to my mom's decision.

"wait! you agree?!" I said in disbelieve.

"of course. Sonic seems like a nice guy." He said.

"b...but." I said, but i wasn't given a chance to explain myself properly.

"Shadow, Sonic is diferent then the others because of his family." He said.

"diffirent? because of his family? how?" I asked.

"let's just say that he knows more then you give him credit for." He said and used his hamer to fasten another wooden board to the wall.

I confused by what he meant. Does he mean that Sonic knows of our secret? Or does he have any suspisions? I hope he didn't. Else i would be losing the only friend i have. After all, who would want to hang out with me after finding out my family's secret about a 'curse' that was caused by our family's DNA. Which, back in the day, poeple thought was actually caused by God punishing those that had sinned. But what they didn't know is that it was a just a DNA abnormality with some huge side effects to go with it. But i wasn't going to contemplate upon that now.

"mom's done with lunch." I said with a curt tone and left the stables. I walked back to the house and made my way inside. I looked around and saw that mom and Sonic were already sitting at the table talking to eachother. They acted like could've been related to eachother. I joined them at the table and a little while later my dad came aswell.

A few hours passed. It was now almost 11 pm in the evening. My mother had asked me to show Sonic the spare bedroom. I walked inside as he followed and made up his bed with fresh thick covers and pillows.

"thanks, it seems quite comfortable." Sonic said and laid down upon the covers of the guest bed.

"no problem." I muttered and walked to the heater. I turned the knob of the heater so it won't be as cold in here anymore and walked to the door.

"are you sure you wanna stay?" I asked as i halted in the doorway and turned to him.

"of course. i don't see why i wouldn't." Sonic said with a smile across his muzzle as he crossed his arms behind his head. My eyes narrowed and i left the room.

I made my way into the livingroom and heard my parents talking. They were talking about guarding the cattle and see what exactly had been attacking our farm animals. I walked in on their conversation and they both briefly glanced at me before continueing.

"can i help?" I asked, but they didn't seem so certain.

"why? it's dangerous." My dad said.

"don't worry i can handle myself." I said and walked outside to the stables. My dad sighed and followed me.

"Shadow, this is not a good idea. who knows how dangerous whatever the hell that thing is can be?" He said as he followed me to the stables.

"i can handle it!" I said with confidence.

"no you can't! you're still a child!" He said, but i persisted. I stood my ground stubbornly and stayed outside. My father, not wanting to harm me, only sighed and walked before it was midnight. So he wouldn't risk any outsiders to spy on us and see something horrific.

I stayed outside at the stables. I didn't want to be inside. It was to risky with Sonic being there. Not that my dad really cared about him being there. I yawned as i felt myself becoming tired. I looked up to the moon and watched it's position.

Midnight was arriving.

I sat down onto my knees as i felt myself becoming disorientated and nauseated. My head pounded in my skull as my jaw started to hurt. I whimpered as i felt my teeth changing to be even more abnormal and threatening then they already were for a mobian hedgehog.

'my clothes.' I thought as i quickly pulled them of. I couldn't risk ripping them to shredds as my, how should i call it, other self didn't particular liked wearing clothes. After stripping down i felt my fur grow to make a thick winter coat to replace my thinner one. I felt my rational thinking mind slipping, but desperatly clung onto it to keep it. The small claws on my finger tipes grew to be even sharper than they already were.

I whimpered out of relief. The pain of my jaw and the throbbing headache was fading away. I strungled to keep myself from falling victim to my instinctive mind, but i managed to fight it. Even if it was with difficulty.

I know that i didn't change much at all. That was some sort of a birth deffect that i had been, of course, born with. My parents thought that i didn't change at all at night. They said i was one of the luckier ones in this family. But the little change didn't make me any less terrifying. My eyes reflecting the light of the moon. And my fur being enlighted by moonlight made me seem terrifying as if i didn't have some sort of birth defect that would even be rare for a werehog such as myself.

This 'defect' wasn't as much as a blessing as my parents thought it was, however. While I didn't change as much during the night, unlike other lycanthropes, I didn't look as normal as I should during the day. That was the downside.

I panted with my ears glued to my head and looked around. I had to focus on protecting the cattle against whatever beast that had been killing them. I laid down on the ground like a canine could on it's side and rested for a bit.

I sat up when i was startled by a noise. I looked around and moved my ears into certain directions to try and find the noise again. I heard it. It sounded like the crunching of snow beneath something heavy. I kept myself from growling. I knew something was coming. I could even smell it lurking around in the crops, waiting to attack it's next prey.


	5. Chapter 5

**A werehog's mate 2: chapter 5**

**Shadow's POV**

I sneaked low to the ground. My ears went back and i growled. I sneaked over to the back and tried to quiet down as i saw something appear from the crops. My eyes widened. This thing was huge! Whoever this thing was during the day. It couldn't have been a small rodent mobian like a squirrel or a bunny. This had to be a bigger mobian. Like a well endowed muscular wolf or a mobian grizzly bear.

The huge beast crept from the crops. It's dark fur almost completely concealing it. It had red rabid eyes. drool escaped form it's lips as it couldn't wait to get one of the sheeps or pigs between his two jaws.

Whoever this was had lost himself long ago to his thirst for blood and truly became more like a wild animal.

It made a chilld run down my spine as it reminded me of an unfortunate story that happened in my own bloodline.

I whimpered in fear and my tail hung between my two hind legs. It stalked forward and i wanted to tell it to stop, but i couldn't talk in this form. All i was able to let out was a howlish bark. It's head turned to me. It realised that it had been watched. A growl was let out as the furred being lowered his body to the ground. As if getting ready to rush over at me.

I felt my nerves becoming tense. There was a suspensfull air floating between us. Either one of us had to move. But it didn't matter whatever move i would make, i was at a dissadvantage. With such size came great strenght. I had quite some shocking strenght myself, but i don't think i would ever be able to compare it to this beast's strenght. I had to count on my agility if i ever wanted to hope on winning.

I growled challenging. The dark beast took this as a sign and charged forward with a roar. I knew that it was a mistake from me to go ahead and challenge it, but i couldn't allow any more loss of the cattle. Or we would lose the farm.

I jumped to the side and avoided the beast rushing at me. It had barely come even close to me. That was what i had in advantage by not being able to transform completely. I was smaller and lighter. Meaning that i was much more agile and faster.

'i guess i do have a chance at surviving this.' I thought as i watched it turn around to face me.

I growled again and managed to get him to come after me again. I turned and ran. I wanted to try and get off of my parents' property and back into the nearby woods. If i stayed here to fight it then i would be risking to destroy anything on my family's farm. I was lucky that a thick fur coat came with my defective transformation. It made running through the snow much easier. If i did this during the day, i would be considerate crazy and probably would be getting hypthermia because of the cold wind. I wasn't wearing any clothes anymore, after all.

I ran past the crops and looked behind me. The beast was giving up on chasing me. It turned to go back to the stables. I growled aswell and skidded to a halt before running back. I reached him in no time and jumped up on his back. I dug my claws into his back and bit down onto his shoulder. I heard a pained growl leave the werebears teethed mouth. It tried to shake me off and i eventually let go and landed into the snow.

The beast had given me his full attention once again and came running after me in rage. I was shocked at the sudden speed the nightmarish bear like being had gotten. I quickly took of running as it's huge clawed paw came crashing down on the spot that i had been standing only a second ago. I managed to slowly put some distance between the two of us. I looked back over my shoulder and saw that it wasn't having a hard time keeping up like he did before i enraged him. I guess it wasn't such a good idea after all.

I saw the fence that was the border of the farm up ahead. 'there it is!' I thought. Out of nowhere i felt something colliding against my side and i was thrown into the crops with a loud wolf like yelp. I fell onto my back and quickly got up again. I ignored the pain coming from my side. I ran and tried to stay hidden in the high wheat.

I caught my breath for a moment before jumping into the view of the beast. It roared in agitation and ran to me. I took of running with a jump into the direction of the forest. I jumped over the fence and heard it break between the werebear's weight as it didn't bother to jump over it if it could crash right through it with ease. I saw the forest coming closer.

I ran and avoided the first pine trees that made up the border of this forest. It was alot vaster and thicker then i remembered it to be. You would think that it would be open because of this cold season, but this forest excisted mostly out of pine trees.

That was good. Atleast i had some foliage i could hide in for a breather. But i was at a dissadvantage and an advantage here. Here in the forest it was alot darker then in the open. With both of us having dark fur we could easily hide from eachother in the darkness. That was my dissadvantage. The bear could hide because of it's dark fur. My advantage here was that i had dark fur aswell. The darkest out of the two of us.

I avoided the trees in a slalom motion and climbed up on a tree with the help of my claws. The bear slowly came to a stop and looked around. It sniffed on the ground for my scent and quickly caught it and followed it to the tree i was waiting in. I grimaced when it came closer. I jumped into a nearby tree and waited. The beast went on his hind legs and investigated the tree i had previously been in.

I jumped onto his back and bit his neck. It roared threw a paw into the air and to his back. It managed to almost wrap his whole paw around my chest and threw me off of him and into a tree. My breath was knocked out of my lungs and fell to the ground. I had to catch my breath for a moment.

My eyes widened as the big shadow of a clawed hand loomed over me. I hadn't recovered from the few, but immensely hard, blows that had been given to me. I hadn't done such damage. I had only given him some deep scratches and bite wounds. But i believed that his blows had gotten some of my ribs broken. I tried to get up, but my arms and legs shook with effort. The paw came down and i closed my eyes to get ready for impact, but i didn't feel anything. I only heard a gunshot and a pained roar.


	6. Chapter 6

_Conidering the fact that Sonadow got triplets in the first story and the triplets might've each gotten a litter since they were all werehogs and add a couple centuries (as the first story took place in 1500's/1600's) then yes, Sonic and Shadow are very distantly related._

_As stated in the summary, Sonic isn't the one with the curse. So therefor, no, Sonic does not get to transform. He carries the 'cursed genes', which heightened his five senses, but he's not a full blood werehog. How this can be will be explained in the story._

_Shadow would've had more muscle if his transformation wasn't defective. Although, he is stronger than a normal mobian his age, he can't compare to a full lycanthrope's strenght. Therefore he uses the speed that comes with his small form and the agility that comes natural to any lycanthrope._

_Sonic may have gotten off easier since he doesn't have the curse. But let's not forget that Shadow's bloodline is hated in this town and Sonic's more than once collided with his._

_I hope that answered your questions, Kalex. :)_

* * *

><p><strong>A werehog's mate 2: chapter 6<strong>

**Shadow's POV**

My eyes opened and widened in shock. Blood was dripping from a huge hole in the werebear's head. It's mouth hung open from it's last roar. It's eyes rolled to the back of it's head and fell backwards onto the ground. I shook from the shock and slowly looked into the direction of the shot. I let out a whimper in confusion and shock when I saw who was standing there.

**Sonic's POV**

My hands shook from the pressure I was putting on the object I was holding. The shotgun that I had used as a quick attempt to save the wolf like hedgehog that was sitting in the snow. I knew that was none other then Shadow. I had know about this all along.

I had been awoken in the middle of the night by a terrifying roar. I looked out through the window of the spare bedroom and saw two things fighting at the farm. Well, fighting wasn't really what you could call it as the smaller one ran for dear life while the bigger one gave chase. One could only be Shadow. But the other one I had never seen before.

I immediatly jumped up and dressed into a pair of jeans and shoes without caring to put on a sweater or even a T-shirt. I had ran into my room and noticed that Jasmine was having a hard time to keep James from leaving the bedroom. They had seen their only son fight that thing aswell and James wanted to help him, but Jasmine couldn't let him out of the room now that he was transformed. No matter how much James' paternal instincts were screaming at him to save their only pup, he couldn't get past his wife and hurt her in the process.

I told them I would take care of it and grabbed the shotgun that I knew they kept in a hidden compartment in the closet in the storage in case of an emergency. I loaded it as I ran outside and followed them to the forest. I had tried a few times to take a shot at the bear like beast, but Shadow had been in the way of the shot.

When Shadow was about to be crushed by the bear's paw is when I finally got a chance to shoot it. I took that opportunity and shot it dead center on the side of it's head. The shot was immediatly fatal as it's huge body fell to the ground and remained motionless.

I allowed myself a breather. Shadow was safe.

I looked at Shadow and saw him sitting there in shock, staring at me.

"are you okay?" I asked. Not that he would or even could answer. I didn't even know if he could understand me now.

Shadow looked back at the body of the bear. It had turned to it's original form. An average male mobian bear with brown fur that was now being coated in his blood.

I lowered the gun and made my way towards him. I went to my knees next to him and checked for wounds. I was surprised that he allowed me to do so instead of trying to rip me to shreds. I guessed that he recognized me even in that form. He whimpered when I checked his side. He must've either bruised or broken some ribs. I had to look closer onto that later when we were back at his family farm.

"Shadow, if you can understand me, then stand up and walk back to your family's farm with me." I said, even though I still wasn't sure if he could understand me.

I grabbed his hand or paw, i don't know what to call that limb of his now, and pulled him up. He didn't seem to be able to stand upright for a long period of time on his two legs like this. I pulled him along back to his home. We walked to the edge of the forest.

I shivered as my winter pelt, that wasn't as nearly as thick as Shadow's was now, wasn't warm enough to protect me from the cold and the harsh wind as we walked back to his home on the farm. I partially regretted not bringing along a jacket, or anything to wear for my upper body at all, but I mostly didn't regret it. If I had wasted anymore time on dressing up, then I might not have been able to save him in time.

I tried to ignore the cold, but it wasn't so easy. Shadow noticed that I was having a hard time and looked at me with a questioning look in his eyes.

"I'm fine, don't worry." I reassured him, after which he turned to look in front of him again. Guess he still understood me. Nice!

Once we arrived back at the farm, after retrieving Shadow's discarded clothes, I wasted no time in rushing inside and letting the warmth of the house warm my cold body. Shadow quickly followed me inside. As we got into the livingroom, I noticed why it was warm inside. Shadow's mother had moved herself to the livingroom and started a fire in the hearth. She must've gotten her husband under control if she was here and not upstairs with him.

"Oh, thank god you're okay!" Jasmine said as she captured her son in a tight hug, obviously not fazed by his nightly form. Shadow, who was still in his right mind, returned the hug.

"Are you both unharmed?" She as she looked me over. Shadow could only shake his head as his right side was killing him. Jasmine looked at me for an explanation.

"He got hit pretty bad. I think that needs to be looked at in the morning." I explained as I remember that werebear dealing him quite a hard blow.

Jasmine sighed. She knew something like that was going to happen.

"The two of you should go and get to bed." She said as she gently pushed Shadow in the direction of the hallway, trying to coax him to go. Shadow followed her orders of course, but first dared to take a peek in his parents' bedroom to check up on his father before going to bed.

I stored the shotgun safely back in its original place before continuing to the guest bedroom. I dropped down on the bed, kicked my shoes off and let sleep take me over.

The next morning the mood was alot lighter than the night before. I came downstairs to find the family of three sitting at the breakfast table. Both father and son now in their normal mobian form. Although, Shadow would never really look 'normal'.

"Ah, good morning, Sonic! I hope you had a nice sleep!" Jasmine said as she noticed me enter the kitchen with a smile, which seemed to startled Shadow. I had expected him to greet me too, but he seemed a little reluctant. The orange juice he was sipping from suddenly seemed much more interesting.

"I slept just fine, thanks!" I replied and sat down next to James. Opposite to me sat Shadow while his mother sat opposite to James. The latter seemed a bit grumpy today, but that was most likely to blame on last night.

Full fledged Lycanthropes couldn't remember everything that happened during their transformation, but if it was anything out of the odinairy, they would still be bothered by that feeling in the back of their mind that they should be aware of something that might've happened during their transformed state. James was most likely suffering from that now.

"We heard through Shadow what happened last night. I had a feeling it might've been someone like us, but I never would've thought that it was one of the news reporters who visited every single time we had an attack. I knew there was something off about that guy." Shadow's father said, muttering that last sentence.

"Shadow also told us what you did. It was a bit risky running around with my shotgun, but thanks for saving him." He added, a tired smile evident on his muzzle. His wife seemed even more grateful.

"No problem! I couldn't just stand by and let him hurt Shadow. Something's been bothering me, though. What's up with Shadow's transformed state?" I asked before taking a gulp from my own glass.

I knew what a real werehog was supposed to look like as my mother, Aleena The Hedgehog, was one. And let me tell you, she wasn't as nearly as nice as James was. A werehog's instinct could become stronger, especially during their transformed states. This meant that my mom's maternal instincts were at their strongest during the night. Mom's overprotection could've been considered normal if she didn't become agressive to others.

Shadow looked at me for the first time this morning.

"You know about it?" He asked in surprise.

"He doesn't know?" I asked James and Jasmine, surprised to find out that Shadow was surprised I knew.

"We haven't really gotten around to tell him everything." James explained.

"There's more than the whole 'my bloodline is cursed and my kids will have it too'-thing?" Shadow asked, upon which his parents nodded.

"Just like us, Sonic is a descendant of our ancestors, Sonic and Shadow. The two of you were named after them." Jasmine explained to her son.

"So.. We're related?" Shadow asked. He was dissapointed to hear this.

"Very, very distantly, yes." His father answered.

That answer made Shadow smile a little. After centuries of our family spreading and spreading, these 'cursed genes' were the only thing we shared.

"Well, honey, now that you're done with your breakfast, do you mind taking Shadow to the doctor?" Jasmine asked her husband. Taking Shadow to the doctor today? Guess he really did get hurt last night.

"Mind if I take him?" I suggested. There's a bus stop right in front of the clinic. Just a short walk to the bus stop, one bus ride and we're already there! It really was no problem to take him there myself.

"Sure! That gives us more time to spend on the farm." James and Jasmine agreed, after which Shadow and I quickly dressed up against the cold and left.


End file.
